April 2023

Clean Energy

Municipalities advance New Jersey's Community Solar Program

With 82% of New Jersey’s municipalities participating in the Sustainable Jersey program, we see every day how elected officials, municipal staff, and green teams are working at the local level to reduce New Jersey’s climate emissions and help meet the state’s energy needs through clean energy. Municipal-led outreach campaigns and support have paved the way for many sustainability initiatives to move forward and are now contributing to the growth of community solar in New Jersey.

New Jersey’s Community Solar Program provides a path for those who cannot install solar on their own residence to benefit from the cost savings and reduced carbon footprint of solar power. In the first two years of the program, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) approved 150 applications for community solar projects representing 240 megawatts of solar energy capacity, more than half of which will serve low- and moderate-income communities.

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Ending Wish-Cycling

Allowing municipalities to recycle the unrecyclable

You have likely heard that there is a flotilla of plastic trash twice the size of the state of Texas in the Pacific Ocean, and that microplastics have recently been discovered in the bloodstreams of 80% of test subjects. In response, the United Nations is working diligently with national governments, non-government organizations, and multinational corporations toward the creation of an ambitious international plastics treaty. Nevertheless, a meaningful resolution to the plastics crisis does not seem all that imminent, especially from the perspective of municipal officials who have to contend with rising costs associated with doing the right thing.

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Tech Updates

Marc Pfeiffer, Sr. Policy Fellow and Assistant Director, Bloustein Local Government Research Center, Rutgers University, continues his series on What Elected Officials and CAOs Need to Know About Technology Fitness Part 6 -- Cloud Based Services and Security.

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About NJ Municipalities

NJ Municipalities serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas and information on municipal affairs, new initiatives and changing legislation for public officials in New Jersey. This magazine has been a news source for local government organizations for over 100 years and is available in print and digital format. Published monthly, with the exception of July, August and September.

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